


The Little Magic

by reliquiaen



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 17:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reliquiaen/pseuds/reliquiaen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There is little magic in the world. It’s common but rarely recognised. It goes hand in hand with the more ostentatious things. Asuka had never given much thought to everyday magic before, not really." AU as always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Asuka

**Author's Note:**

> This trilogy in four parts once more brought to you by Xairathan. My Asugay co-pilot.

Many rumours of magic circulated the world. Some were accurate and some were not. Occasionally they were the sort of things that draw tourists from all corners to come and see; the inverted waterfalls in Spain, for instance. Others were merely conspiracies.

And some were good old fashioned urban myth.

Little every day magics that people hear about in whispers but don’t quite believe.

Shinji’s favourite was wish fountain in the courtyard of the old gaol. It didn’t have any water in it anymore, hadn’t for years, but rumour had it if someone threw a dollar coin in the top tier they’d have good fortune for a week. He always threw money in there before exams. Asuka would discard the whole notion as pure superstition if he didn’t always do well on his exams in spite of also doing minimal revision. Though that did not mean she had any intention of following his lead.

Personally, it was that pizza place they always walked past coming home from university in the afternoon that always got her attention. There were whispers in that neighbourhood and all in her classes that the pizza place had a… spirit… who lived in the basement. The kind who grants wishes. The kind who can see into your heart and give you the thing you want most.

Asuka liked the idea. She’s not sure what that might be, either, which could be a neat surprise.

The problem is, the basement is supposed to be haunted or something. Which… she hardly believed. Magic yes. Ghosts and demons and hauntings? Not even a little bit.

So… braving the basement and its possible curse to get something awesome is one thing, but the sincere recounts of people who’d lost eyes or something to that curse had always been enough to deter her. Asuka liked her eyes just where they were. In fact, she liked all her extremities where they were supposed to be.

And yet still there was a nagging voice in her head telling her to go in and see what happened. How bad could it _possibly_ be? Really?

It didn’t help that they always stopped by at lunch. Pepperoni Palace was unimaginatively named, but they did have the best pizza this side of the river. Mari in particular was a filthy enabler.

She snapped her gum. “Stop being a baby, princess,” Mari drawled, leaning against the wall as always, alternating between looking out the window and rolling her eyes as Asuka. “Just go down there. What could it hurt?”

Rei looked like she wanted to say something, but (as always) kept her peace. Shinji on the other hand looked horrified by the suggestion. “Or not, Asuka,” he countered. “You don’t know what the spirit will take.”

Asuka snorted despite herself. “Do you really believe in spirits, Shinji?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. I believe in a lot of things.”

Asuka glanced briefly at Rei. The other girl held her gaze for a long few seconds before looking away. She hadn’t really expected Rei to have an opinion anyway.

After fiddling with a napkin for a little bit, Asuka finally stood, her chair scraping on the tiled floor. Shinji and Mari both twisted to watch her; he with apprehension and she with amused curiosity. Rei continued to stare at the sidewalk outside.

“I’m going to the basement,” she decided. Her voice didn’t even waver, how about that.

“Food will be here soon,” Shinji reminded her as if this would somehow make her change her mind.

“And it’ll be here when I get back,” she retorted. Already she was walking away, not concerned at all with what else he might think. Besides, she always found reasons _not_ to go in the basement. How bad could it be?

Famous last words really.

The basement wasn’t closed to guests of the pizza shop. In fact, there was a little door set at the back of the store, right next to the ladies toilets. Asuka could feel her friends watching (except maybe for Rei) but she didn’t stop to look back and grin or fire off something witty. Actually, her hand slowed as it reached for the doorknob, a strangely unsettled feeling falling around her.

Her fingers twitched just a little before wrapping around the handle. She twisted it very slowly; suddenly unsure if this was such a good idea after all. Still, she forged onwards. The room behind the door was lit with a single fitful orange bulb; it flickered as she stepped through.

The door clicked shut behind her of its own volition and she adamantly refused to contemplate what that might mean.

A staircase was the only thing of note in the room. She followed it down, around a pair of right turns and then at last was spat out at the bottom. The basement wasn’t as dingy as she’d expected it to be, but it was dark and gloomy and full of smoke. From the scent – a musky pine smell – it was probably incense.

“I’ve been waiting.”

The voice made her jump. It didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. Sort of disembodied and omnipresent. Not a comforting thought, to say the least.

“Sure you have,” Asuka replied tartly, turning slowly in the hopes of locating the speaker.

“Of course, Asuka,” the voice went on. “You seek something.”

“I’m just here to prove a point,” she denied.

There was a soft sort of whooshing noise and she turned again. Finally, she saw a shape through the dimness. Warily, Asuka stepped towards it, squinting through the smoke, the beginnings of a headache starting to throb behind her eyes.

An old man sat on a rickety old chair looking as if he’d been there forever. He had greying hair and white eyes and wore a tatty old deep blue robe. Clearly playing to the cheap seats with the wizard outfit, honestly.

A gentle smile ghosted across his papery lips. “You’re here because you’re looking for something,” he corrected her in a whisper. “Same as all the others.”

“And if you’re _so smart_ why don’t you tell me what I’m looking for then?” she demanded, planting her feet in front of him.

His eyes rolled up to meet hers even though he looked totally blind. “You search for warmth,” he told her. “For a sense of peace, for closeness with someone. You’re looking for affection. And yet you cannot find it as cold and closed off as you are. How can anyone love a heart like yours?”

Almost – _almost_ – Asuka stepped back. Somehow she held her ground. She couldn’t find words to tell him how ridiculous that was though. How utterly preposterous. She has friends.

His smile flickered a little higher, as if he could somehow feel her indignation, hear her thoughts. “You have friends only in the most basic sense of it. They do not truly know you because you hold everyone at arms’ length. You have never known love.”

Finally she managed, “Love is just a delusion,” around the lump in her throat.

“And yet you crave it,” he intoned. “With every fibre of your being, you need it. At the same time as you refuse it. You must find love, Asuka, or the hollow in your heart will consume you.”

“You’re a crazy old man,” she snapped.

He merely blinked those hazy eyes, smile fading. “Two weeks,” he said softly. “You have two weeks or the emptiness will take you.”

Asuka frowned, not sure she quite understood what he was on about. “What do you mean? Two weeks for what?”

At that, his smile flashed again. “To find love, Asuka.”

She spluttered, “That’s insane! You can’t do that in two weeks!”

“You could,” he murmured. “If only you knew where to look. Or face the cold alone.”

A chill ran down her spine. Somehow, deep down, she knew what he meant. “I’ll die?”

He only smiled again. Then the smoke began to _writhe_ and he disappeared in a cloud. She called out, taking a few halting steps forward before breaking striding more confidently to where he’d been only a second ago. Except he wasn’t there.

Asuka blinked.

Above her, the flickering orange light swung from the ceiling and before her was the plain grey door leading back to the pizza shop. She turned, wondering what the hell just happened. She didn’t remember walking up the stairs…

The stairs were gone. There was only a blank wall and a mop leaning into the corner.

Her heart thudded a little harder than perhaps it should.

She didn’t believe in… whatever that had been. It was a hallucination or something. The only thing that spoke to the contrary was the now severe throbbing in her temple.

Hesitantly, momentarily worried that through the door would not be her friends; she turned the knob and pushed it open. She blinked as she stepped into the comparative brightness of the store. Mari and Shinji were both staring at the door and even Rei was watching her, eyes quietly concerned.

Their pizzas had still not arrived. Asuka didn’t even care; she just sank into her seat beside Mari and sighed. Her friends remained miraculously quiet for all of seven seconds.

“Did you even talk to the spirit?” Mari asked her, teasing.

“There wasn’t a spirit,” she huffed. “Just an old man burning incense.”

Shinji leaned forward to peer at her closely. “What did he say?” He had to back off again pretty much straight away as their pizzas arrived.

“Just garbage,” she muttered. “Some nonsense about how not… opening up to people will get me killed or something. I don’t know. It was silly; I don’t know why I bothered.” She stared vacantly at the top of her box for all of a minute before standing again. “I’m not particularly hungry. I’ll just take it home.” Asuka pulled a five dollar note from her pocket and placed it on the table to cover her pizza before leaving.

Her friends watched her go with matching troubled expressions.

Even Rei.

Something in her gut twists anxiously as she walked along the pavement. As much as she didn’t want to believe that crazy ancient weirdo, she did feel… off. And in the event he had cursed her or something, she decided it might be best to at least attempt to save herself.

Though really, that seemed an impossible task.

Fall in love in a fortnight? Sounded like the name of some cheesy reality TV show.

“If you know where to look,” she mumbled, repeating his words. That sounded either very straight forward (ie, one of her friends), or hideously complicated (ie, pick somewhere in the city to bump into someone). Given the time frame, she was leaning towards option one there.

Though… really. One of her friends? Not much chance of that. Rei was… impossible. Mari grated on her nerves way too much (plus she had a thing for one of their TAs). Shinji perhaps? Seemed crazy to her.

But then, she’d just been in the basement of a pizza shop talking to some probably dead ghost guy. What did she know about crazy, really?

Asuka exhaled heavily, wondering whether _she_ might not be the crazy one.


	2. Rei

Ever since Asuka had gone into the basement of the pizza shop she’d been acting all kinds of strange. Rei had long since grown accustomed to her quicksilver moods, but this was different. More resigned than anything else. And yet she wouldn’t speak of what had happened.

Or perhaps she spoke to Mari. But she never mentioned it when Rei was around. The fact that they spoke so little ached with some sort of physical sorrow.

For all her anger and temperamental nature, Rei had always liked Asuka. She was fierce and determined and she never took shit from anyone. Rei admired her for that.

And yet for over a week, Asuka had been… almost… timid. She hadn’t snapped as much, rarely called Shinji ‘stupid’. Rei could only recall two instances of Mari being yelled at and neither time had she been called ‘four eyes’. Something was… wrong with Asuka.

Which was why Rei was standing outside her apartment door, contemplating knocking. At length, (and after several deep breaths) she did just that. For a long moment there was nothing from the other side, then the sound of the lock sliding along its chain and finally the door swung inwards just a little.

“Rei.”

Asuka sounded honestly surprised to see her there.

“Asuka,” she replied softly.

After another beat the door edged open somewhat more and Rei could see Asuka’s whole face. She looked a little pale, her skin wan and drawn like she was ill. Her hair was damp; perhaps she’d just showered. Rei tried not to think too hard about that.

“What are you doing here?” Asuka asked. “Don’t you have class?”

“Not for another hour,” Rei assured her. “I’m… worried. Are you alright?”

Something flashed across Asuka’s face but it was gone so fast Rei didn’t have time to identify it. “Yeah,” she muttered. “Obviously.”

“Asuka.”

Rei tried so hard to keep her tone neutral and firm but that one word still wavered. In response, Asuka’s mouth opened and her shoulders sagged. Even though she looked like she wanted to speak, nothing happened. They just stood there, watching either other. Rei shuffled her feet.

“Please,” Rei tried, quietly. Even more than usual, her voice sounded small.

And Asuka sighed. “I’m just… Ugh it’s stupid.” But Rei had always been able to outwait her. “That guy in the basement said… And it’s…”

“You’re worried about what he told you?” Rei guessed, filling in those blanks.

Asuka’s eyes slid closed as she bobbed her head. “It’s stupid, see? I just… feel awful.”

Tentatively, Rei reached out, she realised she didn’t know what she was doing however and let the hand fall. Asuka’s face scrunched up, almost pained. “Whatever he told you, Asuka,” she whispered. “You can get past it. Face it head on, like everything else.” She offered the tiniest of smiles to go along with that but Asuka’s expression remained glum.

“Yeah… Okay.”

Rei didn’t want to leave her like this, but… “I have to go if I want to make my lecture.”

Asuka nodded again and Rei turned to go. But before she’d even made it to the end of the hall she heard, “Rei?” She looked back, finding Asuka leaning out her doorway. “Thank you… For coming by.”

Rei smiled again. “No problem.”

The rest of her day progressed as it always did. She walked the ten minutes into campus, ducked into her air-conditioned building, took the stairs up to the third floor and sat in the hall for her lecture. Then, after dutifully taking notes for the next hour, she left again, heading back to her apartment which was slightly further away than Asuka’s. Admittedly, her mind did wander back to Asuka a little more than usual and as she wandered past her building Rei paused and tilted her head back, picking out the window on the fourth floor that belonged to her friend. She squinting against the sunlight and thought about going up, just to check she was okay.

But Asuka had a class around now so she might not even be home. And anyway, Rei had already stopped by once. Twice would be sure to get some comment from Asuka about her behaviour. Best not to tempt fate, she supposed.

And to herself, she thought that perhaps Asuka should’ve considered that before going into that darn basement. Whatever it was that had Asuka so knotted up started down there and Rei didn’t like it. Possible explanations for Asuka’s weirdness rattled around in her brain as she unpacked her bag and set about getting ready to shower. She was wearing just her tank top and underwear when the phone rang.

Hastily, she tugged on pants (the windows were open) and stumbled outside. The answering machine clicked over anyway and before she got a hand to the receiver a voice started speaking. Asuka’s voice.

“Hey, Rei.” She sounded… raspy and soft, almost sad. She coughed. “Listen, um… God okay, I’m dying. I just wanted to apologise for being so nasty to you. I’m sorry–”

Rei didn’t hear the rest. She grabbed her keys and phone and raced out of her apartment faster than she’d ever had reason to before. Truthfully, she wasn’t entirely sure where Asuka would even be. She had a late lecture on Thursdays but if she was calling now then she’d probably skipped it. Still, Rei halved her best time to the university in her haste and nearly got bowled over by a cyclist for her efforts.

In spite of her uncertainty as to Asuka’s location, she crossed the gardens anyway, making a beeline for the building where her class should be. She didn’t get far though, because half way across the grass she caught sight of red and whirled. Asuka was sitting on one of those wooden benches leaning very heavily against the backrest. She had her head tilted back against the wood and her eyes closed, phone in her lap. She looked like she was… waiting for something.

Rei’s stomach lurched at what that might be.

She took several steps closer before quietly calling, “Asuka?”

Very slowly, Asuka looked up. “Rei?” She looked dazed, confused, but she stood anyway, wobbling just a little. “What…?” She lost her balance and Rei hooked an arm around her waist just in time to keep her from falling flat on her face.

“What happened?”

Asuka tapped her nose. “The basement wizard…” she slurred. “He told me I’d die if I didn’t find love in two weeks. How idiotic.” Her eyes rolled closed again.

“You’d _die_?” Rei asked incredulously. How utterly ludicrous, what kind of wizard does something so horrible? Her thoughts raced as she tried to come up with some sort of solution, though there didn’t seem to be anything useful at this point that she could do.

Except maybe… Her heart thumped uncomfortably at the notion that maybe she could do _something_. It didn’t seem right and yet…

Asuka hummed. “Who knew angels looked like Rei…”

So she was delirious. Definitely not the best time for a first (and probably last) kiss but… If it saved her life, Rei was willing to give it a shot. After all, it worked in Disney movies.

Most of Asuka’s weight was leaning into Rei which made it somewhat awkward and that fact made her hesitate for just one more second. But Asuka’s ashen face was so close to Rei’s and she could feel her shallow breathing and it seemed a good idea to do this sooner rather than later. So Rei shifted slightly and leaned forward until her mouth met Asuka’s.

At first nothing happened, it was completely one-sided and then Rei felt Asuka’s breath hitch. When she leaned away, Asuka’s eyes were open – still glazed – but open. Her skin was still awfully pale, but she seemed marginally better. Or perhaps Rei just hoped she’d had something to do with it.

For a second Rei thought Asuka was going to speak. But then her eyes closed once more and she lolled forward, all her weight coming to rest on Rei’s shoulders. She staggered a little then and wondered what on earth to do with a passed out Asuka.


	3. Magic

There was a quiet ache in her neck when she woke. Actually waking took an awful long time to do fully. Her eyes felt swollen and heavy and grainy and gross but she blinked them open defiantly all the same.

Now, the last thing she remembered was seeing a possible hallucination of Rei in the university parklands. This was definitely not the park. There was a ceiling above her, one she didn’t recognise, the soft humming of an air conditioner and… she thought maybe she was lying on a couch? Perhaps she was in one of university’s infirmary rooms. Maybe.

Something gentle touched her head then and she twitched, tilting her head back. Rei was there. How odd. She was reading a book held in one hand, the other was absently running fingers through Asuka’s hair. Every now and then she’d lift it to turn a page but then she went back to the hair. That was the moment she realised she had her head in Rei’s lap. This was probably Rei’s apartment, really.

Asuka felt an inexplicable surge of fondness well up between her ribs.

“Rei?” Her voice was croaky and hoarse, but loud enough in the silence to draw attention.

Rei blinked down at her, setting the book aside. Her hand stilled in Asuka’s hair and she pulled it away very slowly. “Are you feeling alright?” Rei asked her carefully.

She sucked in a breath. “I’m… alive. How?”

Rei didn’t answer, but pink did flush across her nose. “Um… Doesn’t matter. What happened?”

Asuka wrinkled her nose. “Well, the basement wizard told me I was heartless, basically, and that I was never going to find proper friends if I kept pushing them away blah blah blah. Then I think he cursed me.”

“I got that much,” Rei told her, a wry sort of smile tilting her lips.

“I thought maybe… Maybe I’d talk to Shinji about it. Stupid idea really. He’s been dating that Kaworu guy for the last few months.”

Rei’s eyes widened. “And he didn’t tell us?”

“Apparently he didn’t want Mari to tease him any more than she already does.” Asuka rolled her eyes and winced immediately afterwards. “So after two weeks it seemed highly improbably I’d actually survive the curse. And yet here I am. Alive.”

She tried to push herself upright but found herself rather pathetically weak. Rei seemed to understand what she wanted though and helped her lean into the back of the lounge. Then they sat there, watching, waiting.

“Did you get my message?” Asuka eventually asked. “I called but you didn’t answer.”

Rei swallowed. “I was um… getting in the shower when you called.” She paused, hands folded in her lap. “I heard part of your message but… I left to find you when you said you were dying.”

“Why?”

Rei shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”

Her lie was uncharacteristically transparent. “Why _really_?” Asuka didn’t know if she even wanted to hear the answer.

Also unexpected, Rei was incredibly blunt with her reply. “I like you.”

Asuka blinked. “You like me?”

“Yes. Since we were fifteen.”

Her jaw sawed open, incredulous. “Like…?”

Rei visibly steeled herself. “Like, I have wanted to kiss you since you yelled at Shinji for asking you out in the cafeteria that time.”

Asuka had to take a moment to absorb that piece of information. What a truly bizarre thing to make you want to kiss someone. If she recalled correctly she’d actually threatened Shinji with a fork.

“Oh,” was all she had to say. “But I was so _mean_ to you.”

Rei offered her a sad smile. “Did you really hate me, Asuka?”

She thought about that for a second. “No,” she eventually admitted. “You were just so effortlessly good at _everything_ and it was frustrating. But still…”

“It’s alright, Asuka,” she mumbled, shifting slightly away from her. “Just… maybe don’t mess with any more magic, okay?”

It looked as though Rei was going to stand and Asuka was struck by the sudden need for her company just a little longer. “Rei.” Her hand was wrapped around Rei’s wrist before she realised she was reaching for it.

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure who was more surprised, her or Rei. They both looked down to where Asuka’s hand rested over Rei’s and then back up. That same pink colour had scribbled across her nose again and there was a watery hope flickering behind her eyes.

Asuka’s breath got stuck in her throat again. She couldn’t consciously recall moving closer to Rei, but suddenly she could count all the little golden flecks in her eyes. Rei exhaled and it tickled Asuka’s mouth. As if it were a cue, they both relaxed.

Rei’s lips were warm and soft and tasted like vanilla. And her hand wound ever so gently back into Asuka’s hair, guiding her closer, tilting her face slightly. Her other hand came to rest on Asuka’s hip, teeth grazing across her lower lip. Rei sighed and when Asuka leaned away she looked… only vaguely aware of where she was.

Asuka’s heart skipped a beat knowing she put that expression there. It took her a good long moment to realise she was actually straddling Rei’s lap too. When she did she laughed, tucking her nose into Rei’s collar.

“Asuka?” Rei asked, her voice vibrating through Asuka’s chest. “Are you okay?”

She rocked back so she could look Rei in the eyes, one palm sweeping across her still pink cheek. “Yes, Rei. I’m fine.”

“You’re laughing.”

“It’s funny.”

“What is?”

Asuka tipped forwards to press a careful kiss to Rei’s lips. “I quite like you.”

Very, very slowly, a blinding smile broke across Rei’s face. It set Asuka’s insides to smouldering. It made her chest ache with the heat of it. It made her want to kiss Rei again.

So she did.

Multiple times.

There is little magic in the world. It’s common but rarely recognised. It goes hand in hand with the more ostentatious things. Asuka had never given much thought to everyday magic before, not really.

But she’s sure all of it lives inside Rei.


End file.
